Locating in Kanazawa city, Nagamachi is an old samurai district where you can go back time to the Edo Period. There are narrow streets, mud walls, samurai residence, and the oldest canal in Kanazawa flows through the area. This is the place where people love to dress up in Kimono and stroll around to take photos.
Gyokusen’inmaru Garden in Kanazawa Castle was first built in 1634 by the third feudal lord and modified by the fifth and the thirteenth lord. As compared with Kenroku-en which was massive and designed for entertaining guests, Gyokusen’inmaru Garden is small yet beautiful and is believed to be the courtyard of the domain lord. The garden was abandoned during the Meiji era (from end of the 19th century to early 20th century) and had been reclaimed to be a horse field and later a sports stadium till 2008. In 2009, the prefecture government initiated a project plan to unearth and restore the Gyokusen’inmaru Garden. In March 2015, the exquisite garden and a rest house were opened.
The name Kanazawa, which literally means marsh of gold, is said to be originated from a legend that the peasant Imohori Togoro who washed gold dust in a local marsh. The history of gold leaf production dates back to the end of 16th century but it was restricted to be produced in Edo (Tokyo today) and Kyoto at the time. Kanazawa, with the suitable climate, temperature, humidity, water, and highly skilled craftsmen was only revived publicly in the second half of the 19th century. Today, over 98% of the gold leaf was produced in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Japan. When you visit Kanazawa, you will see a lot of gold leaf products and you may experience making a lacquer ware with gold leaf yourself. It’s fun!
